Investments this year have led to the amount of money that public companies in Mozambique have provided to the State falling 20 percent compared to 2013, the country’s finance minister said recently.

Without quantifying the amounts in question, Manuel Chang said the companies’ managers had requested authorisation to carry out investments, “which was authorised by the government.”

“We agreed, because we believe that only in this way can the economy grow,” said the minister, adding that although there was a drop in the amount delivered to the State “we think this is an investment for the future.”

The minister’s statements were made during the 19th Consultative Council of state stake-holding company Igepe, which looked at activities in 2014 and the outlook for 2015.

Information provided at the time showed Igepe concluded seven State asset divestments. Five of these involved sales to management, technicians and staff and the other two were sales to private investors. (macauhub/MZ)